UNI dr / Access BANCROFT LIBRARY THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA IA \ DAVID OF JUNIPER GULCH Hulda was the Tomboy of the Village. David of Juniper Gulch. THE LFBRtARY OF CHOICE FICTIOU^ DAVID OF JUNIPER GULCH A STORY OF THE PLACER REGIONS OF CALIFORNIA BY LILLIAN SHUEY Author of "CALIFORNIA STJNSHINK," te. 0? TEDS 7BRSITT CHICAGO LAIRD & LEE, PUBLISHERS ENTERED According to Act of Congress, in the year eighteen hundred and ninety four, by LAIRD & LEE In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. (ALL BIGHTS RESERVED) [Da.id of Jumpw Gulch] CONTENTS. I. HULDA AND DAVID 9 II. THE DOVE AND THE Fox 26 III. A GIRL'S JOURNEY 35 IV. A JOKE. TAKEN PRACTICALLY 48 V. HARDUP LIFE 57 VI. THE TEACHERS' EXAMINATION 71 VII. A GREAT BEREAVEMENT 86 VIII. DAVID'S PLOTTING. 91 IX. CHERRY VALLEY 99 X. THE RIDE 113 XL Cis BEVERLY 124 XII. DAVID' s BET 133 XIII. THE BATESES AND THE DORMSES" 144 XIV. THE PICNIC 158 XV. THE LINE FENCE 176 XVI. SUMMER DAYS 195 XVII. A SNOWY RIDE 210 XVIII. MRS. CORNMAN 228 XIX. DARK DAYS 233 CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE XX. THE INQUISITION 243 XXI. THE SUMMER BOARDER 260 XXII. A SURE PROOF 269 XXIII. THE PICTURE 289 XXIV. "THE CHILD is MINE!" , 302 XXV. ASSEMBLY BILL NO. 334 310 XXVI. THE ASSEMBLY ROOM 318 XXVII. THE PICTURE AGAIN . . 339 XXVIII. DR. WELCOME 349 XXIX. DAVID'S LAWYER 365 XXX. FESTIVITIES AT THE IMPERIAL 372 XXXI. WILLIE 381 XXXII. LILA 395 CAST OF THE STORY. MAX ROYSE Mining and Real Estate Agent. MRS. MINERVA ELLIS Lodging-house Keeper. SAM Chinaman, servant of Mrs. Ellis. MR. JOSEPH CORNMAN Pedagogue. HICKS Stage Driver. DAVID STRONG. HULDA HARDY. MRS. HARDY. GRANDPA AND GRANDMA BEVERLY. Cis BEVERLY. MILLIE BATES School-girl. BUCK DORMS School-boy. EDWARD LA GRANGE. AURELIA HAWTHORNE STALKER. THE REV. GRACEWAY AND WIFE. MR. AND MRS. WOODS. THE "BATESES" AND THE "DORMSES" MRS. MARKHAM. SATSUMA, j Servants of DONOVAN, | Mrs. Markham. (7) TJIIVBESITT DAVID OF JUNIPER GULCH CHAPTER I. HULDA AND DAVID. In the placer regions of California in the little min- ing town of Hardup, there lived, at the opening of my story, Mrs. Thomas Hardy and her only child, Hulda, a girl of eighteen years. Hardup, like many of its inhabitants had seen bet- ter days, as many of its mines had been worked out and abandoned. The paying mines, that were being developed at this time, were owned by established Hydraulic com- panies; many of the citizens of the old placer town being employed as laborers. The people of the county were finding out that fruit could be cultivated on the pleasant hills, and in the open valleys, and that the country was desirable to live in, as well as to cut to pieces with mining ope- rations; and so Hardup lived on dreaming of its old prosperity, and hoping for better times when they would be justified in painting up their houses and re- pairing their old stores and churches. Hardup lay in a diversified valley, forest covered mountains rising on the south and east, and lower 9 IO DAVID OF JUNIPER GULCH brushy hills on the west. The children of the town, knowing nothing to fear in the pine woods, were wont to troop in a body to the mountains and forests on Saturday, there to grow brown and rugged, chasing the birds and rabbits, and seeking fruits and flowers. In the springtime were the sweet pink manzanita blossoms, the white mountain lilies, the mariposa lilies and the rare tiger lilies; these last always in rocky and almost inaccessible places. In summer there were the manzanita-berries, elder- berries, June apples, wild grapes, goose-berries and thimble-berries. Later the hazel-nuts and pine-nuts lured them to longer tramps in the hot, still afternoons. Always as they played and rambled, they sought for the nuggets of gold that they never found but they were laying up, nevertheless, treasures of health and in- spiration. The Methodist church annually sent to Hardup a minister who lived on a very small salary, abetted by much self-supplied hope and grace. There were many vacant houses in Hardup, and the little unpainted church looked old and worn, with but fifteen years of service. Thomas Hardy had come to Hardup in the days of its prosperity, and, being ignorant of the ways and workings of California mines, had been led into speculations till he had lost all his capital. His little cottage home, and ten acres of unimproved land back of it, not being considered property of any value in those days. HULDA AND DAVID II One morning while handling a heavy stream of water in a great rubber hose, the pipe slipped from his cold hands, and, whipped under the falling bank by the whirling monster, he was hurried to his death. He had been overseeing a large force of laborers, and was justly beloved by them. The days of warm- hearted, impulsive deeds among the miners had not yet departed, and a week after the funeral, several men in rubber boots tramped into the widow's house, and laid a little book on Mrs. Hardy's table. "It's in the bank at Forest Grove," said the spokesman, "It's a thousand dollars. We thought we owed it to him, us and the company, ma'am, for he was the best boss we ever had." These good people recognized that Mrs. Hardy had neither the courage or ability to support herself. Gentle in manner, and of the most refined habits, she had no power to successfully enter the money-making openings for women at that time. After some reflect- ion she concluded to accept the gift. She knew, as the miners well understood, that all her husband's money had been lost in starting the mines there, and it was generally regarded by herself and others as an act of justice, inspired by those who had reaped a great harvest from his hazardous sowing. The town also began to improve at that time; a schoolhouse was built on the flat below the widow's cottage, and the school-teachers sometimes came to board wtih Mrs. Hardy. With the plain sewing that came in abundance to her hand, Mrs. Hardy lived a quiet and unambitious life devoted to the memory of 12 DAVID OF JUNIPER GULCH her husband, to her church, and to her plain and un- worldly friends of the Methodist persuasion. When Hulda was eighteen she knew nothing of the world except as she saw it in the church society of Hardup. She was a plump, fair girl in perfect health, but with undeveloped tastes, and crude ideas of the world and its ways. To an ordinary observer there was nothing very interesting about the girl. Her dark, fine glossy hair, too thick to be becomingly arranged, hung in a long braid to her waist. With her strong brown arms, she milked the cow, and gathered the fruit from the young orchard. Her most attractive features then, were her perfectly shaped brown eyes and a broad white forehead hidden by her drooping hair. The crimson on her cheeks and lips was cov- ered by a brown tint of tan painted there by Cali- fornia sunshine. At fourteen years of age, despite her mother's gentle protestations, she was known as the Tomboy of the village. She led the other girls far up the deep recesses of the canons, and used to plunge on alone far beyond where the others dared to go. There was no place so dear to her as the rocky hills, and she littered the house with rocks, canes, and other trophies of her rambles. She trans- planted montain vines and trees into the yard, and had collected specimens of every kind of rock and mineral found in that region. At sixteen she had ranked as the first scholar in the village school so long, that she begged to be allowed to remain at home and work in the garden. Then she fell to read- ing till she had read every book in the village; a HULDA AND DAVID 13 motley collection, but which included, however, many historical works and standard novels. She had been instructed in the languages according to the various tastes of the teachers, who had boarded there. One had started her in French, one in Spanish, and one more practical, gave her a good start in Latin. Hulda well knew that her wild-wood wanderings and reading habits were not approved of by the women of the town. She was a "Tom-boy," a "no- account," and a "good-for-nothing," because she could neither crochet nor make her own dresses; the knowl- edge of orchard trees and their culture not being sup- posed to be, at that time, of any actual value for a girl. Mrs. Hardy had no power to make Hulda otherwise than as she was. So Hulda wore her sim- ple calico dresses to church, read, dreamed, and rambled in the hills, till the town gossips ceased to think of her as a possible belle, bride and housekeep- er of Hardup. The wandering writing school teachers, peculiar to the country at that time, had made an excellent scribe of the girl to the envy of all the other ruddy boys and girls, and from these writing teachers she imbibed the idea that she might earn something for herself by her "rapid and smooth-flowing pen." She then took a few pupils, and a strong desire to become a money-earner began to fill her mind. By her eighteenth birthday she realized that if she ever had more books and better clothes she would have to earn them herself. Her mother kept the mony she had received from 14 DAVID OF JUNIPER GULCH the miners intact in the bank, and with stubborn economy had refused to draw anything but the inter- est. It had never occurred to her frugal mind that the education of her daughter might be of far greater value to her than the money; she saw in that capital alone a sure protection from want. The money was deposited in the bank at Forest Grove six miles away, and Hulda's sole experience with the outside world lay in her trips to that place to draw the interest and make their frugal purchases. In stormy weather when there were not likely to be many passengers, Bill Hicks, the stage driver, frequently called for her to insist on her occupying a seat in the empty old stage with which he made daily trips between the two towns. Hulda seldom refused to climb in the roomy stage, that had seen better days, and better service in the times of Hardup's prosperity. The harder it stormed and the more dan- gerous the roads were, the more keenly the girl would enjoy her ride, and the more Bill Hicks enjoyed the company of his perfectly fearless companion. It was on one of these trips in stormy December, that she met with an adventure very likely to happen to a girl of such simple habits and utterly unsophisticated training. The stage was ready to start on its even- ing trip home and Hulda was sitting in one corner with her feet on the mail bag, when Hicks put his head in the door. "Hulda," he said, "I s'pose you'd a heap rather ride alone, but this is a pretty decent looking chap. Guess you won't mind him after you ride a spell. If HULDA AND DAVID 1 5 it warn't raining so hard I'd make the old cub ride on the box. Yes, sir, this way, sir." The stranger got in and the stage rolled out of town. The stranger was a nervous, restless man and sat first on one side of the stage and then on the other. He frequently buttoned and unbuttoned his overcoat and adjusted his vest. Hulda watched him with curi- osity for she had never seen any one at all like him. She judged he was not a minister, he was too healthy looking and there were too many newspapers sticking out of his pocket. He frequently took off his hat and looked into it, and then she would see an abundance of disordered hair. In the meantime he had taken an inventory of the dark-eyed country girl, and pres- ently he said: "Have you any objection to my smoking a cigar, miss ?" "Oh no, no, sir, not at all, "replied Hulda honestly. She had always spoken civilly to every one she had met on those trips. "Thank you; you are a lady," he said with em- phasis, lighting a mild cigar. "I suppose you live about here." "Yes, sir," said the girl, "at Hardup." "Ah, indeed. I expect to stop at that place a day or two. I bought a mine there last week. Ran up to see it. I suppose you know all about mines, ah Miss" "Hardy," said Hulda, simply. "Ah, yes. I suppose your father owns exten- sively." l6 DAVID OF JUNIPER GULCH "O, no, sir, my father is dead." "Well, indeed." He threw his cigar from the win- dow and leaned over the middle seat manifesting new interest. He noticed her plain dress. "Then I suppose you are a school marm, or going to be." Hulda flushed guiltily. For the first time she was ashamed for not being anything in particular. She thought of her writing pupils. "No, sir, I teach writing," she said, "but I have only a few pupils." "Yes, yes, I see," continued the stranger, getting more patronizing and fatherly, "that is a pity. If you are a good scribe, you could do much better than that in San Francisco, much better. I know girls there who are earning very good wages writing in offices." He produced a blank card from his vest pocket. "Now just for curiosity suppose you wrote on this card with this pencil. If you can write well, it is possible I might aid you to get a situation. I like to see girls ambitious." The stage was standing still just then for Hicks to deliver a parcel at a farm-house, so she took the card and wrote on it rapidly one of her writing school copies. "Live a life of truth, sobriety and honor," and returned it with an air of just pride. "Beautiful, beautiful, Miss Hardy," exclaimed the stranger. "There would be no trouble about your getting a position. If you wish to come to the city I will gladly aid you." HULDA AND DAVID 1 7 "I would have to talk to mother, answered the girl. "O, yes, of course. Don't do anything rashly. Here is my card, and you can write to the city and get references in regard to my character and business You will find it all right. I am responsible for what I say. I might call in and see your mother, if you wish. O, is this where you live?" The stage stopped at the cottage and the man sat back in silence while Hicks helped Hulda out with her packages. Hulda burst in on her mother who was cooking supper in the little kitchen, in a wild state of excite- ment. "Mother, mother, I have had an adventure." She dropped her packages on the floor while she took her cloak and hat from her warm figure and flushing face. "Well, well, shut the door and calm yourself," ex- postulated the mild little mother, "and tell your story straight if you tell it at all." Hulda gave her the card and they read: Max S. Royse, Land & Mining Agent, 231 Pearl St., S. F. Up-stairs. "But he is a perfect stranger," she protested when Hulda had explained. "We must not depend on all he says." "But can't we find out about him, mother," in- sisted Hulda; "it is such a nice way to earn money." "But you don't know anything about the city, child. It is a dangerous place for young girls." David of Juniper Gulch 2 l8 DAVID OF JUNIPER GULCH "But Cis Beverly is there, mother." "Yes, I know well, well, set the table, Hulda, and we will talk about it in the morning." The next day Max S. Royse, Land & Mining Agent, called and made the way apparently smooth before them. He was a married man, he said, and Mrs. Royse would receive the girl in her own home for a few days. When she came down she could write him a note, and he would meet her at the wharf and take her to his house. Moreover his wife was a member of the C. St. Church and they could write to that church and obtain references as to himself and wife. It was a common thing, he said, for him to get positions for girls, and he only charged a modest compensation for his services. He was very business like and took his departure promptly with a manner of great respect. Hulda had an unsophisticated mixture of prudence in her nature, so she said: "Mother, let's not tell anyone, and if I succeed it will be time to tell the neighbors." "One thing," answered her mother, "I must consult Brother Graceway and find out about these people first." So she put on her bonnet and went to the Meth- odist parsonage that very afternoon. The minister laid down his Greek lexicon, and passed his hand over a brow dignified by many years of labor in the ministry. After giving the matter a moment's study, he said the business might be a little irregular but he could write to the pastor of C, St. Church and get all the HULDA AND DAVID IQ particulars. The answer which soon came, was very satisfactory. Mrs. Royse was a member of the writer's church. She was very active in charities and church work. Mr. Royse attended church occasionally. They lived well, and he had never heard anything deroga- tory to the character and influence of Mr. and Mrs. Royse. So Hulda and her mother sat down to fix over a grey dress into a traveling costume and talk about the new prospects; and they dwelt with pleasure on the fact that Hulda could now find Cis Beverly, and report all the news about her. One bright day they took a walk about two miles over the gravelly hills and slopes to the farm of Grandpa and Grandma Beverly. This old couple had come to California many years previously with a married son. While the son joined in the eager search for gold the old man had cleared a little land, planted trees and made a home. Five years the son and his wife had lain in the church bury- ing-ground at Hardup, and the old people lived in their little home, driving to church regularly in an old buggy that was weak and shaky as the old man him- self; kindly and gentle-hearted old people, loving their fair-haired granddaughter, Cecelia, and training as best they could such a restive child. Every one loved Cis, a fair, blue-eyed, slender girl, who used to run over the hills to town like a young deer, and who chose her associates among the married women of the town, learning of them to sew and crochet, and dress herself like a young lady of society. She 2O DAVID OF JUNIPER GULCH had sweet, amiable ways and an unoffending presence, and those who loved and petted her had helped to advance her very early out of her girlhood into the tastes and desires of a young lady. At seventeen Cis went no more with Hulda on her rambles; she dis- carded her boy and girl friends, dressed her hair high, and wore her dresses long. According to the prevailing ideas Cis was a young lady of marriageable age, and as she was pretty and guileless it was not surprising that she had a lover, and one so well worthy of her as David Strong. David, who was teaming on the mountain grades, saw visions of her pretty face all along the brushy roads. He bought a new Sunday suit, quietly established the practice of walking home with her Sundays after church, and Hulda grew accustomed to seeing his sturdy figure on the hill back of her house every Sun- day at sunset, on his way home from the Beverly farm. As David, though plain in his attainments, was a man of honest ability, the older heads of the commu- nity looked upon these attentions with favor. But some giddy young matrons of Hardup talked to Cis of her being pretty enough to make a brilliant match, if she could only see a little of the world. A certain Mrs. Black came up to Hardup on a va- cation from her flourishing millinery store in San Francisco, and being a dear cousin of Mrs. Vander- lip's, the postmaster's wife, she was cordially received by the matrons of Hardup. She fell in love with Cis Beverly at once, and hoped she would not marry HULDA AND DAVID 21 that big fellow, who sat behind her in the church choir. She concluded before she went home, that she wanted just such a girl as Cis to learn to wait in her store. Cis, being fresh from the country, would be honest, and her yellow curls tied with blue rib- bons, would attract customers from the street. So she went herself to the Beverly home and persuaded the old people to let Cis go with her to the city for six months. She would take her to live with her behind the shop, she said, and the, girl could earn enough to buy her some new dresses. So when David Strong had loitered about the next Sunday, waiting for Cis, he found her in the vestibule surrounded by girls and women who were kissing her good-by. Some were giving her orders for hats and dresses and some were begging curls for keepsakes. Finally seeing David waiting lonely and perplexed, they all withdrew, and she came out smiling and radiant, and walked with him over the brown Novem- ber hills. David's spirits fell when she told him of her plans, yet he felt that he had no right to oppose her going. He had made no confession of his love, and in her present happy, independent mood he knew he would be rejected with scorn, if he told her then. But after all he reflected that six months would not belong, and perhaps a little work would reduce her spirits and make her more willing to think of him seriously as her intended. So he left her with only her laughing promise not to forget him and a promise to write to him. It would have been best had she gone away 22 DAVID OF JUNIPER GULCH with David's kiss on her lips, and David's ring on her finger; but David's heart had been too faint. Cis was but a child in mind and heart, ready to follow any strong persuasive leadership. And Mrs. Black, who was a woman of many words, speedily forgot her promises, when she grew tired of her new pet, and let her look after herself, as did the other shop girls. Cis had been away now over a year, and David and Hulda used to speak frequently as they stood in her garden, of Cis and her letters. They had re- ceived three letters each, and David's were like Hulda's, except that she addressed him as "dear friend," and her as "dear Hulda." At first she said that she was homesick and would be home in two or three months. Then she wrote that she was delighted with the city, that she had been to C. St. church and was making new friends. When she had been away three months she wrote that Mrs. Black did not need her any more, but that she had found a place in a candy store. They re- ceived no more letters, but they went occasionally to Grandma Beverly to read the letters that came reg- ularly to her. She wrote that Mrs. Black had moved away, and that she lived with her dear friend Sallie Graham, who kept house for her father on Mission Street. Then she began to promise that she would be home in a few months, but though her grandmother had looked for her all summer and winter, yet she had not come. "Hulda," David had said one August evening, as HULDA AND DAVID 23 he stood mutilating her garden fence with his knife, "do you think I could get Cis to come home if I went down after her? The old folks are worrying a great deal." David had learned to place a great deal of confidence in this plain, slow-thinking girl during the long summer. "No," Hulda had answered, thoughtfully leaning over the gate in the moonlight, "if you go and insist on her coming she will be sure not to. She has sent some money to the old 'folks and I don't think she wants to come." "It isn't the money," David had said. Hulda did not know what it was. She did not divine his great love for her friend. Had she been a more worldly girl she might have been a better confidant. Had they both been wiser they would have been more anxious. Soon after David went away on a prospecting tour to Nevada. When he returned he did not come im- mediately to the hou^e as he sometimes did. Hulda and her mother were talking of these things the day they walked over to the Beverly farm on the day before Hulda's intended departure. "We will not tell them I am going down," said Hulda. "I can't afford to stay a day if I don't get a position, and if I stay I will find Cis, and write them all about her." Hulda's head was full of plans to find Cis, and persuade her to return to her old home for a time. On their return from the farm, Hulda dropped be- hind her mother, for she saw, down the road, the 24 DAVID OF JUNIPER GULCH figure of a man with a pick and shovel. Mrs. Hardy saw it too for she called back as she hurried on: "Ask David to supper, Hulda, he hasn't been in for a long time." "Why didn't you go on with your mother?" said David jokingly as he came up to her. "Because you need scolding for staying away so long, and you've got to come to supper, mother says. How do you do anyway, Dave?" "As well as I deserve to be, I suppose. Haven't had any luck, as usual. What's the news from Cis Beverly?" "This is a pretty time to ask about Cis," cried Hulda, "been away all fall." "There's just this about it, Hulda," said David moodily, "if I made a rich strike she'd come home soon enough." "Oh, hush, David! Such talk!" "May be you think I don't know anything about her." He walked on in silence for a few minutes. "Well, if it's between you and me, I'll tell you all about it." "Why, of course I'll not tell," cried Hulda with girlish fervor. "It'sashort story and I'll tell it short," and David shifted his pick and shovel to the other shoulder. "Well, you know I went down there the day after I was talking with you. I got to the city about nine o'clock in the evening, and I went straight to the candy store, for I had the street and number you gave me. I found the place all right, and the first thing I saw was Cis standing behind the counter busy HULDA AND DAVID 25 about something. She was dressed like city girls only she looked pale and tired. Pretty soon she looked up and saw me coming in. Hulda, she turned as white as this apron of yours. 'Why, Mr. Strong,' says she, 'when did you come down?' I was sort of dashed at her coolness, and like a blundering fool I said, 'I've just come down, Cis, and I want you to go home with me. ' Then she looked really scared. *I can't come with you, I really can't, Mr. Strong,' says she, 'but I'll come home this winter sure.' Then I lost my head.